Preview

The San Jose Earthquakes enter Tuesday’s match looking to advance to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals for the eighth time in club history, but they’ll have to get past defending NASL champion Minnesota Stars FC to do so.

San Jose won its third-round match in thrilling fashion last week, coming from behind to oust the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2-1 thanks to a second-half brace from rookie midfielder Sam Garza. Meanwhile, Minnesota Stars FC defeated Des Moines 2-0 in the second round and Real Salt Lake 3-1 in the third before arriving in the Bay Area.

The Earthquakes have added motivation to advance after winning the coin flip to host a quarterfinal match against the winner of Seattle Sounders FC and Cal FC on Tuesday, June 26 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

Minnesota Stars Scouting Report

Minnesota (4-0-5, 17 points) enters Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup match fresh off of a 3-1 third-round upset over current MLS Supperter’s Shield leaders Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on May 29. The Stars were lifted by goals from Kevin Venegas, Neil Hlavaty and Simone Bracalello on their way to becoming only the second team to win at Rio Tinto this year. The Stars are the reigning NASL champions and currently are tied atop the league table with the Puerto Rico Islanders. Forward Amani Walker leads the Stars with three goals in NASL play. In their last NASL outing, the Stars tied the San Antonio Scorpions 0-0 in San Antonio.

Minnesota Stars Players to Watch

Of Note

-The Quakes come into Tuesday’s game off of a 2-1 third-round victory against the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers at Stanford’s Cagan Stadium on May 29. Trailing 1-0 at the half, Sam Garza grabbed a brace to lead the Quakes to a comeback win.

-With a win against the Stars, the Quakes would advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup and would face the winner of Tuesday’s fourth-round match between the Seattle Sounders and Cal FC. If the Quakes win, the quarterfinals will be played on Tuesday June 26 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The Quakes have entered the U.S. Open Cup eight times, and made it to the quarterfinals seven times. In 2004, the Quakes made their lone appearance in the semifinals, falling 1-0 to the Kansas City Wizards on the road.

- Last week’s 2-1 comeback win against Fort Lauderdale marked the first such result for the San Jose Earthquakes in U.S. Open Cup play since 2005. The last time the Earthquakes advanced in the tournament was Aug. 3, 2005 when Wade Barrett and Brian Mullan scored to send the club past the Portland Timbers, then of the USL, to the quarterfinals. Among the players on the field for San Jose that day were MLS leading goal scorer Chris Wondolowski and current Earthquakes assistant coach Ian Russell. In fact, Wondolowski entered the game in the 80th minute for Russell.

-Quakes forward Chris Wondolowski will miss Tuesday’s game against the Stars while on international duty with the U.S. Men’s National Team. After not suiting up for the USMNT’s 5-1 victory over Scotland on May 26 or 4-1 loss to Brazil on May 30, Wondolowski played the final 11 minutes of a scoreless draw against Canada on June 3. Wondolowski leads the Quakes with 11 goals scored this season.

Earthquakes- Minnesota Stars Connections

- Stars head coach Manny Lagos made 79 appearances for the Earthquakes between 2001-2003